A Visitor to Hong Kong

A friend of a friend made a video about coming to visit Hong Kong.  I have a speaking line at about 3:08. 

A worthwhile read

Here’s an excerpt from my student, Hannah, who has started a blog called “a peek in another life.”  check it out.

Sometimes, I hate the fact that I am “stuck” between two cultures. I know it is suppose to be a blessing to be in such a privilege position where I receive the “best” of two or more cultures. However, it seems difficult to live a life where at home I am brought up with a traditional Chinese thinking while at school I am taught a very liberal, western point of view. It feels troublesome for people like me, who cares to take a stand, who believes it matters to understand about both views, who doesn’t like to say “who cares” to cultural beliefs and customs.

The Election

I thought I was a cynic.  Despite voting for Obama, despite getting caught up in the excitement, I thought I could keep a degree of academic distance – be analytical.  Yet, after seeing pictures of African-American voters, tears in their eyes upon learning of his victory, my cynicism was beat down.  I got teary-eyed after watching a bit of Obama’s acceptance speech.  He said:

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves –- if our children should live to see the next century… what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

How much is packed into that phrase, “we have seen so much” – how much injustice and suffering have we inflicted, all while living in such great prosperity?  And where are we going… this world of ours?  How can our future possibly overcome the mistakes of the past?  That future may be bleak, but for a moment I’m okay with putting a little faith in humanity. This moment is history, and I’m a part of it. Obama is my generation’s Kennedy.  And even more so, he means something to the black community that I will never truly understand.

John Dickerson in Slate:

At the start of his campaign, Obama often concluded his speeches by telling the story of his Senate campaign and how he prevailed in the southern part of Illinois despite its history of antipathy towards blacks. He cited Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” On Tuesday, 221 years after the adoption of a Constitution that allowed slavery to continue, an African-American won the presidency. In Grant Park, as Barack Obama left the stage, you could see that arc bend.

Voting and belonging

About 3 weeks ago the U.S. Consulate here in Hong Kong sponsored an overseas voting day for American citizens who were too lazy to register their absent ballot in time and get it in the mail.  I was one of those people.  So I went.  And I voted.  Hooray.

I like voting.  And I like being an American.  Ok… sometimes I like being American.  This was one of those times.  Going to the consulate was just as memorable, probably even more so, than the actual voting.  Here’s what I mean: There’s something satisfying about showing your American passport and being welcomed “home” if you will, as I was at the Consulate.  I’ve thought about this experience on more than one occasion.  The feeling is similar to the times when I’ve come through Customs after having traveled out of the country.  It’s gratifying to know that you belong.

Don’t we all crave that sense of belonging?  We want to have privileges, to have a place where we are given special treatment.  It’s not about getting equal treatment, though that’s nice, too.  It’s about elevated status, about being granted rights not normally granted to everyone else.  We all want that, and it feels great when we get it, even if it comes in the simple act of entering a building.

Back to voting.  I’m a young urban professional.  So no big surprise when I tell you I voted for Barack Obama.  Don’t you just love it when you fit the statistics?  

I could probably ramble for a bit about my reasons for voting this way, but it probably wouldn’t be interesting or articulate.  Instead, a quote from someone more articulate.  I particularly appreciated Colin Powell’s statements when he officially endorsed Obama.  Here’s what he said about the insinuations from some Republicans that Obama is a Muslim:

Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian.  But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?  The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?  This is not the way we should be doing it in America.  

… Those kinds of images going out on al Jazeera are killing us around the world.  And we have got to say to the world, it doesn’t make any difference who you are or what you are, if you’re an American you’re an American.